GUWAHATI, Oct 24 - The recruitment process for filling up vacant posts of assistant professors and librarians in different provincialised colleges of the State has come under fire for alleged violation of norms by some colleges.
Official sources said unscrupulous candidates from outside the State � mostly hailing from West Bengal, Odisha and Tripura � were violating the well-laid-down norms concerning knowledge of local languages, with the authorities looking the other way.
�There are many instances of candidates from outside Assam with no knowledge of Assamese applying for posts of assistant professors in Bengali. This is despite the Directorate of Higher Education, Assam, issuing a directive on November 8, 2018 making knowledge on local language a criterion for applying. Ironically, the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Tripura are very strict in enforcing the local language norm for posts in their colleges,� sources said, adding that a number of such candidates have already appeared in interviews and a few even got selected.
Similarly, norms concerning another qualification, i.e., permanent resident certificate (PRC), are also being violated with impunity. �There is no way a candidate hailing from outside can produce a PRC but that is happening with regularity,� sources said.
Sources added that with the authorities failing to put in place a system for drawing some parity between the high marks obtained by candidates from outside states and the low marks secured by candidates in Assam on language subjects, outside candidates were far better placed than local ones for appointment.
�This is totally unfair, as toppers in language subjects under Gauhati University or Dibrugarh University normally obtain around 65 per cent marks, but candidates from outside states secure up to 90 per cent in language subjects,� sources said.
Not just this, it has also been seen that the persons belonging to ST/SC and OBC in other states are availing the benefits and concessions in Assam in the matter of employment or education, overriding the benefits and concessions legally connected to the reserved category (ST/SC/OBC) of the indigenous people of Assam.
Some aggrieved candidates have also moved the Director of Higher Education, Assam, besides the Education Minister and the Chief Minister seeking their intervention on the alleged anomalies.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court had in the Bir Singh vs Delhi Jal Board and Ors [(2018) 10 Supreme Court Cases 312] held that �Persons belonging to ST/SC in other states cannot be deemed to be ST/SC persons in the State of his migration for purpose of employment or education,� the memorandum said that the West Bengal College Service Commission vide advertisement No. 1/2015 clearly formulated that ST/SC and OBC candidates of other states would be treated as general candidates (Clause No. 8), with Odisha and Tripura also following the same rule.
�But in Assam, it has been observed that many persons belonging to backward classes have been deprived in employment and education because of migration of persons belonging to backward classes from outside the State. The Assam government office memorandum No. AHE.407/2017/44 dated 8/11/218 is silent on the status and candidature of the persons belonging to SC, ST and OBC of other states in connection with appointment of assistant professor/librarian, nor is there any direct guideline to examine proficiency in local languages,� the memorandum said.
It also called for necessary steps to reject the candidature of SC/ST/OBC candidates of other states for doing justice to the local deserving candidates.
